Passengers riding in vehicles are able to enjoy video entertainment, such as movies, videos, television, and the like, and perform data communications while underway. However, some passengers riding in vehicles that include row seats may experience some limitations to their abilities to see video entertainment and perform data communications.
In some vehicles, passengers seated in row seats have an ability to use a phone that is mounted in front of them. Most of these phones do not provide an ability to perform data communications, such as sending or receiving electronic mail (email). The phones that do provide data communications services are limited due to limitations of the phone's user interface, i.e. small display and 12 key keypad. Also, the phone is tethered to a phone base, thereby intruding on other passengers' space if the phone is not mounted directly in front of the user. For example, some passengers can view video entertainment by viewing a screen that is mounted in the ceiling above a passageway, or a screen that is mounted overhead the seats. In some vehicles, passengers may attempt to put their heads in somewhat awkward positions to view these screens. Also, the position of screens relative to seats may make it difficult for a passenger to see the screen or the screen may be blocked by the head of another passenger. Further, some passengers may have limited or no choice regarding selection of entertainment for viewing.
Therefore, there exists a need for a device that allows each passenger to easily view video and perform data communications.